Art Cashin said Thursday's gain for stocks is "very broad" and "that's good," but there is one "slight anomaly."

Cashin, UBS' director of floor operations at the NYSE, told CNBC's Bob Pisani around midday, "The yield on the (U.S.) 10-year (note) is going up without spooking the market."

He doesn't think the higher yield is due to the morning's unexpectedly large drop in first-time claims for unemployment insurance, as some on Wall Street are saying.

Cashin said comments from European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi could be the real cause. While Draghi said the ECB wasn't raising rates and expects to keep rates low for an "extended period," the market interpreted that as also meaning there won't be further easing. That "tended to stimulate the yields on the German bonds going higher and I think ours are just going along."

While the Ukraine situation remains difficult, Cashin predicted that "as long as nothing heats up, as long as no bullets are fired or troops moved, we should be OK" in the stock market.